When I Grow Up…

Ok, first off, yes, I am a major slacker and haven’t been posting here in a long time. I admit it, and am working on resolving my occassional severe case of Slackeritis. I however am actively posting on Twitter (www.twitter.com/winesgood) in the meantime, so if my Slacker problems continue here on the WinesGood blog, just give me a little poke and I’ll jump back here with more regularity.

So.. what do I want to be when I grow up? Don’t know exactly! What I do know is that I love love love when we’re up in wine country, cruising around, talking to people, tasting great wine, eating local fresh food, enjoying the clean, clear, fresh air. So either I’m saying I want to be a permanent tourist in wine country (not really a bad idea right?), or I need to make wine country my home and my business.

But what to do? I know I don’t really want to be a farmer. I mean, the cute little vegetable garden that I plant with my son is fun, but acres of grapes, probably less so. I love the cooking, eating, and drinking aspects of wine country.

So I think the first step for me is to learn how to make wine…. This leads to a ton of other questions and multiple directions and I need your input and advice here – yes, your input. Do I go the wine education route, taking courses in wine history, regions, and flavor profiles offered by associations such as WSET? Or do I hook up with one of these cooperative wine making groups like Crushpad? Or do I try to casually pursuade a small winemaker to allow me to buy a barrel or part barrel and get down and dirty making wine?

I know an awesome wine maker, who with some cash and my volunteering to help (physical labor, social media, marketing, walking his dog, etc) might be convinced to work with me. He suggested that while official training is nice, doing something is the best way to learn. I tend to agree, but…

So? What do I do? What makes the most sense? What can I do while balancing my day job (which is running consumer marketing research for a fitness company)? Anyone? Bueller? Thoughts?